 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "King Wen of Zhou" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(September 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
| Ji Chang | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overlord of the West | |||||||||
 Imaginary portrait made during theMing Dynasty | |||||||||
| Elder of thePredynastic Zhou | |||||||||
| Reign | 1100–1050 BC (50 years) | ||||||||
| Predecessor | Ji, King of Zhou | ||||||||
| Successor | King Wu of Zhou | ||||||||
| Born | 1152 BC (traditional) or 1112 BC (modern estimate) Bi (Zhou state) | ||||||||
| Died | 1050 BC (aged 62) Cheng (Zhou state) | ||||||||
| Burial | Bi (Zhou state) | ||||||||
| Spouse | Tai Si | ||||||||
| Issue | Bo Yikao King Wu of Zhou Xian, Marquis of Guan Dan Du, Marquis of Cai Feng, Count of Wey Wu, Count of Cheng Chu, Monarch of Huo Zheng, Count of Mao Zai, Monarch of Dan Zhenduo, Marquis of Cao Xiu, Marquis of Teng Gao, Count of Bi | ||||||||
| |||||||||
| Father | King Ji of Zhou | ||||||||
| Mother | Tai Ren | ||||||||
King Wen of Zhou (Chinese:周文王,Zhōu Wén Wáng; 1152–1050 BC) was theposthumous title given toJi Chang (Xiahou) (姬昌), the patriarch of theZhou state during the final years ofShang dynasty inancient China. Ji Chang himself died before the end of the Zhou–Shang war. His second sonJi Fa completed the conquest of Shang following theBattle of Muye and posthumously honored him as the founder of theZhou dynasty. Many of the hymns of theClassic of Poetry are paeans of praise to King Wen. Some consider him the firstepic hero of Chinese history.[1]
BornJi Chang (姬昌), Wen was the son ofTairen andJi Li, the Elder ofZhou, a vassal clan of the Kingdom of Shang along theWei River in present-dayShaanxi. Jili was betrayed and executed by the Shang kingWen Ding in the late 12th century BC, leaving the young Chang as the Elder of the Zhou lineage. Thereceived text ofMencius literally calls Ji Chang "one of the westernbarbarians" (西夷之人,Xīyí zhī rén), although commentators gloss this as describing him as "close" to theXirong and other non-Huaxia tribes.[2]
According toAnnals of Zhou in theRecords of the Grand Historian, upon becoming the Elder of Zhou, Wen was said to continue his father and their ancestorHou Ji's legacy by ruling with benevolence, respecting elders while treating the young with kindness, and allowed talented individuals to counsel him. Among these counsellors became important officials of Zhou, such asYuxiong,San Yisheng, and Hong Yao (閎夭), and laterJiang Ziya.[3] Over time, Wen gained respect and reverence of the other regional lords, whose quarrels were also mediated by Wen.[1]
Wen also placed great importance in agriculture within his domain, withMencius crediting thewell-field system as one of Wen's policies.[4]
King Wen is also credited with having stacked the eighttrigrams in their various permutations to create the sixty-four hexagrams of theI Ching. He is also said to have written the judgments which are appended to each hexagram. The most commonly used sequence of the 64 hexagrams is attributed to him and is usually referred to as theKing Wen sequence.
During this time, Wen marriedTaisi and fathered ten sons and one daughter by her, plus at least another eight sons with concubines.
At one point,King Zhou of Shang (商纣(Zhòu)王), fearing Wen's growing power, imprisoned him inYouli (present-dayTangyin inHenan) after he was slandered by the Marquis of Chong.[5] His eldest son,Bo Yikao, went to King Zhòu(纣) to plead for his freedom, but was executed in a rage bylingchi and made into meat cakes which were fed to his father in Youli. However, many officials (in particular San Yisheng and Hong Yao) respected Wen for his honorable governance and gave King Zhòu(纣) so many gifts – including gold, horses, and women – that he released Wen, and also bestowed upon him his personal weapons and invested him with the special rank of Overlord of the West (Western Shang).[6]: 717 Wen offered a piece of his land in Western Luo to King Zhou, who in turn allowed Wen to make one last request. He requested that the Burning Pillar punishment be abolished, and so it was.[dubious –discuss].
Subsequently, upon returning home Wen secretly began to plot to overthrow King Zhou. In his first year as Overlord of the West, he settled a land dispute between the states of Yu and Rui, earning greater recognition among the nobles. One anecdote claims that the rulers of Yu and Rui became ashamed of their dispute once they entered Zhou territory and saw its people sharing their farmlands and caring for the elderly. It is by this point that some nobles began calling him "king". The following year, Wen foundJiang Ziya fishing in the Pan River and hired him as a military counselor. He also repelled an invasion of theQuanrong barbarians and occupied a portion of their land. The following year, he campaigned against Mixu (密須, nowXinmi inHenan), a state whose chief had been harassing the smaller states of Ruan and Gong, thus annexing the three of them. The following year, he attacked Li, a puppet of Shang, and the next year he attackedE, a rebel state opposed to Shang, conquering both. One year later he attacked Chong, home of Hu, Marquis of Chong, his arch-enemy, and defeated it, gaining access to the Ford of Meng through which he could cross his army to attack Shang. By then he had obtained about two thirds of the whole kingdom either as direct possessions or sworn allies. That same year he moved his administrative capital city[7] one hundred kilometers east from Mount Qi toFeng, placing the Shang under imminent threat. The following year, however, the Overlord of the West died before he could cross the Ford. Nonetheless, other sources suggest he died in battle during the Zhou campaign against the Shang.[8] The Chinese long preserved a tradition that he had been buried inCheng, a tribe and city annexed by the Zhou, located between theJing andWei Rivers in what is nowXianyang,Shaanxi.[2]
Four years after Ji Chang's death, his second son Fa, posthumously known asKing Wu, followed his footsteps and crushed the Shang atMuye, founding theZhou dynasty.[9] The name "Wen" now means "the Cultured" or "the Civilizing" and was made into an official royal name by King Wu in honor of his father. He was the only noble to bear the posthumous name "Wen" for almost the entire first half of the Zhou dynasty, despite its common usage as an epithet of eulogy, suggesting a special privilege.[10]: 15
Ah! Solemn is the clear temple,
reverent and concordant the illustrious assistants.
Dignified, dignified are the many officers,
holding fast to the virtue of King Wen.
Responding in praise to the one in Heaven,
they hurry swiftly within the temple.
Greatly illustrious, greatly honored,
may [King Wen] never be weary of [us] men.
Many of the older odes from theClassic of Poetry (Shijing 詩經) are hymns in praise of King Wen. He was additionally a great hero ofConfucius, whose followers played a significant role in shaping Chinese culture.
Building on a parable between theYellow Emperor and Guangchengzi inZhuangzi, Wen is mentioned inWunengzi during a discourse with advisorLü Wang, where he convinces Wang the hermit to assist him in saving the collapsingState of Yin. It is justified through claiming that the virtue ofwu wei (non-purposive action) inTaoism surrounds heaven and earth, whilst the virtue of purposive action inaugirates and completes things, thus how the Yellow Emperor andEmperor Yao became Sons of Heaven. In other words, if one is obstructed by purposive action, one cannot perform wu wei.[12] This has since been interpreted as an example of early easternanarchist thought.[13]
In 196 BC,Han Gaozu gave King Wen the title "Greatest of All Kings".[14]
The theory of political legitimacy that prevailed during the Zhou dynasty and found adherents throughout the following millennia was known as the Mandate of Heaven. According to this theory, Heaven established the sovereign lexically[clarification needed] the same way a sovereign would establish a vassal,[10]: 9 legitimacy flowed from Heaven's will through the person of the ruler to his lords and his family.[15] The sovereign was held to be Heaven's eldest son in a manner analogous to the patrilineal kin-based society of Predynastic Zhou. If the sovereign was insufficiently virtuous, Heaven would choose a new successor, portended by various omens or disasters.[16] King Wen was said to be mandated by Heaven because the virtue of the Shang kings had declined too greatly.[17]: 515–516 While this political theory gained a great deal of sophistication over time, it seems to have begun with King Wen reading the skies.
In 1059 BC, two unusual celestial phenomena took place. In May, the densestclustering in five hundred years of five planets visible to the naked eye could be seen in the constellation of Cancer, followed a few seasons later by an apparition ofComet 1P/Halley.[18]: 123–124, 129 One or more of these[19]: 38 was interpreted by King Wen as a visible sign indicating his divine appointment.[20]: 30–31 Early records, such as theinscription on theDa Yu ding, describe Heaven's Mandate in terms of an actual astronomic event: "the great command in the sky" (天有大令).[19]: 39 [a]
The transmitted record does not place King Wen's receipt of the Mandate in his biography, although the widespread traditions that hold the idea of its existence to be true universally agree that he did receive it at some point during his career. While his conquests, imprisonment, establishments, and rebellion form a traditional relative chronology, the absolute date calculated by modern scholars of the celestial phenomena that formed the seed of what has been called the Zhou dynasty's most important contribution to Chinese political thought[21]: 291 cannot be securely slotted into King Wen's timeline.[clarification needed]
Wives
Concubines
Sons[22]
| Gongshu Zulei (1192 - 1158 BC) | |||||||||||||||
| Gugong Danfu (1158–1126 BC) | |||||||||||||||
| Jili, Elder of Zhou | |||||||||||||||
| Tai Jiang of Pang | |||||||||||||||
| King Wen of Zhou (1125 BC - 1050 BC) | |||||||||||||||
| Queen Tai Ren | |||||||||||||||
Chinese scholars (e.g.Wang Yunwu (王雲五),Li Xueqin (李学勤), etc.) identified King Wen with a周方白[g];Zhōufāng bó; 'Elder of Zhou region' mentioned in inscriptions H11:82 & H11:84 amongoracle bones excavated at Zhouyuan (周原),Qishan County.[34]
King Wen of Zhou Born: 1152 BC Died: 1056 BC | ||
| Regnal titles | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | King of Zhou 1099 – c. 1050 BC | Succeeded by |
